Health News

Scientists shed new light on the fight against cancer - They have discovered how the anti-tumor activity of immune cells can be restored

Date: Dec-12-2013
The Leuven-based VIB researchers have revealed a mechanism that explains why the anti-tumor activity of specific immune cells called macrophages is suppressed during tumor growth. They have also demonstrated that blocking the protein Nrp1 can restore this anti-tumor immune response. This is a first. Nrp1 may provide an important hub for the development of new therapies against cancer. Max Mazzone: "For many years the biological processes which lead to the coordinated navigation of blood vessels and nerves have been studied.

Digital Science donates SureChem data of >15million chemical compounds and patents to the European Bioinformatics Institute

Date: Dec-12-2013
Digital Science, a Macmillan Science & Education company, is donating the SureChem collection of >15million chemical structures from world patents into the public domain through the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI). It is the first time a world patent chemistry collection has been made publicly available, marking a significant advance in Open Data for use in drug discovery. This transfer will give researchers around the globe access to a vast new source of medicinally relevant compounds related to the curing of human disease.

Recent reproductive coercion associated with unintended pregnancy, says Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC expert

Date: Dec-12-2013
Birth control sabotage and pressure to become pregnant by male partners, also called "reproductive coercion," in the past three months is associated with recent unintended pregnancy among adolescent and young adult females utilizing reproductive health services, according to a Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC study that will appear in the online version of Contraception.The study adds to the growing body of research on how abusive relationships increase young women's risk for pregnancies that are unwanted and unplanned, said lead investigator Elizabeth Miller, M.D., Ph.D.

SAGE Therapeutics presents new data identifying highly selective, oral compounds and novel approach for the treatment of chronic epilepsies

Date: Dec-12-2013
SAGE Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company developing novel medicines to treat central nervous system (CNS) diseases, has announced new data presented at the American Epilepsy Society (AES) Annual Meeting that reveal a novel mechanism and approach for the treatment of status epilepticus (SE) and identify new, orally bioavailable compounds that may lead to improved therapies for chronic epilepsies."Epilepsy is among many disorders of the CNS that have a critical unmet need," said Al Robichaud, Ph.D., chief scientific officer of SAGE.

Prolonged disorders of consciousness - new RCP guidance to help healthcare staff and families

Date: Dec-12-2013
The Royal College of Physicians has launched new guidelines on the diagnosis and management of people with prolonged disorders of consciousness. They should help healthcare staff, families, carers, friends and others understand the clinical, ethical and legal issues surrounding the care of these patients.Prolonged disorders of consciousness is a term covering patients remaining in coma, vegetative state (VS), and minimally conscious state (MCS) after a brain injury. The guidelines replace the RCP's 2003 working party report The vegetative state.

New findings reveal protein structure in rubella virus

Date: Dec-12-2013
Researchers have determined the structure of the rubella virus capsid protein, which is central to the virus's ability to assemble into an infectious particle and to infect humans.Although a successful vaccine is available to protect against rubella virus infection, the discovery could aid efforts to develop vaccines and antiviral drugs to treat related infections.The protein is located on the virus's inner portion of its shell, or capsid, and is an essential structural component as well as a key factor in virus-host interactions.

Action could help millions of Americans exposed to silica at work

Date: Dec-12-2013
A new review highlights new developments in understanding the health effects of silica, and calls for action to reduce illness and death from silica exposure at work, including stronger regulations, heightened awareness and prevention, and increased attention to early detection of silicosis and lung cancer using low dose CT scanning.For centuries, silica has been known to cause lung disease (silicosis). Evidence that silica causes lung cancer has been more recent, accumulating over the last several decades.

Some older patients with breast cancer may avoid radiotherapy

Date: Dec-12-2013
Omission of radiotherapy is a reasonable option for women age 65 or older who receive hormone therapy after breast-conserving surgery for hormone receptor-positive, axillary node-negative breast cancer, according to results of the PRIME 2 trial presented at the 2013 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held Dec. 10-14."Radiotherapy has been known to reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrence three- to fourfold.

Boosting pipeline of medical devices for children

Date: Dec-12-2013
For medical devices, as with many medicines, the market for children is a small fraction of the adult market, and there are far fewer child-sized devices. But, of course, the need exists, even if proper devices may not."It's not simply a matter of scaling down adult equipment for pediatric use," said Matthew Maltese, Ph.D., a bioengineer at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). "Pediatricians have long known that children are not just small adults, and adults are not just big children.

Embolic material at site of fatal hemorrhage occurring days after flow-diversion aneurysm treatment

Date: Dec-12-2013
It started as a medical mystery and became a cautionary tale. Fatal hemorrhages occurred in the brains of two patients several days after successful cerebral aneurysm treatment with the Pipeline™ Embolization Device (PED). These hemorrhages were located in the same vascular territory as the treated aneurysms but were not close enough to the lesions to be directly linked to the aneurysms or their treatment. Over time, physicians began to suspect that these were not isolated hemorrhages, but in fact, were occurring in approximately 4% of patients treated in this manner.